Airlines cancelled more than 2,700 US flights and delayed more than 10,000 on Sunday — the single worst day of disruptions since the US government shutdown began on October 1.
The worsening air travel crisis has entered its 40th day, with major carriers reeling from government-mandated flight cuts and a growing shortage of air traffic controllers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that air travel could fall to a “trickle” in the run-up to the Thanksgiving holiday if the shutdown continues. “It’s only going to get worse... the two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle,” Duffy said on CNN’s State of the Union.
“Many of them are not going to be able to get on an airplane, because there are not going to be that many flights that fly if this thing doesn’t open back up,” he added.
According to flight-tracking site FlightAware, as of 9:45 p.m. ET (0245 GMT) Sunday, there had already been 2,762 US flight cancellations and more than 9,900 delays, as conditions worsened nationwide.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it faced staffing issues at 12 air-traffic control towers.
The FAA has instructed airlines to cut 4 per cent of daily flights at 40 major airports because of safety concerns linked to controller shortages. The reductions are set to reach 6 per cent on Tuesday and 10 per cent by November 14.
Many airlines have already scheduled cuts for the coming days.
United Airlines said it will cancel 190 flights on Monday and 269 on Tuesday. Delta Air Lines has been particularly hard hit, cancelling or delaying 52 per cent of its mainline flights on Sunday.
The shutdown has exacerbated staff shortages across the aviation system. Duffy said a growing number of air traffic controllers have opted for early retirement as they continue working without pay.
“I paid experienced controllers to stay on the job and not retire,” he said. “I used to have about four controllers retire a day before the shutdown, ... now up to 15 to 20 a day are retiring.”
The FAA is currently 1,000 to 2,000 controllers short of full staffing, Duffy added. During the shutdown, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been forced to work without pay, raising safety and morale concerns.
On Saturday, 1,550 flights were canceled and 6,700 were delayed, following 1,025 cancellations and 7,000 delays on Friday.
Airline officials said the rolling delay programs made it nearly impossible to plan schedules and expressed alarm about the system’s ability to function if absences continue to rise.
Republican US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said he was told by the FAA that, since the shutdown began, pilots have filed more than 500 safety reports about errors made by overworked and fatigued air traffic controllers.
The cascading impact on travel could ripple through the broader economy, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett warned.
“Thanksgiving time is one of the hottest times of the year for the economy... and if people aren’t traveling at that moment, then we really could be looking at a negative quarter for the fourth quarter,” Hassett told CBS’s Face the Nation.
Industry group Airlines for America, which represents major US carriers, said staffing issues have disrupted the travel plans of more than 4 million passengers since the shutdown began. The group estimated the daily U.S. economic impact from flight reductions could reach $285 million to $580 million by next Friday.
The FAA’s mandated cuts began on Friday morning, affecting about 700 flights from the four largest US carriers — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines.
With the Thanksgiving travel rush approaching, airlines and passengers alike face growing uncertainty. “It’s only going to get worse,” Duffy warned, unless the shutdown ends soon.